How to say “become” in 43 languages
Every one of these is a word that turns up in ordinary speech, not a dictionary curiosity — the number beside it is where it ranks in that language.
It is commonest in Bengali, where হবে is the 14th most used word.
- Afrikaans word to become; to get #53
- Albanian bëra to have become #274
- Arabic تعرف to become acquainted, with, to meet #83
- Armenian դառնալ to become; to turn into #682
- Basque bihurtu to become, turn into #323
- Bengali হবে to be, to become; to come into existence #14
- Bosnian postati to become, turn, get #884
- Bulgarian стана to become #218
- Chinese 分手 to part; to become separated #533
- Croatian postati to become, turn, get #798
- Danish bliver to become; the latter is preferred with nouns… #82
- Dutch worden to become, to get, to grow, to turn #121
- English feel To become aware of through the skin; to use… #189
- Esperanto iĝos to become #684
- Finnish selviää to become clear #1,449
- French devenu to become #876
- German kennenzulernen to get to know, become acquainted with; to… #1,936
- Greek έγινε to become, turn into #190
- Hebrew נהיה to become, come to be #435
- Hindi बना to become #270
- Hungarian lett to become, get, turn into #202
- Icelandic verða to become #618
- Indonesian bangun to become conscious after having slept #368
- Italian diventare to become, to go, to turn #669
- Korean 돼 to become #42
- Latvian kļūst to become #614
- Lithuanian tapo to become, get; to turn into #465
- Macedonian станува to become #489
- Malay menjadi to become; to turn into #88
- Norwegian skitne to become dirty; to get soiled #2,212
- Persian شد to become; a light verb used in a large… #42
- Portuguese ficar to become; to get; to end up #144
- Romanian devenit to become #620
- Serbian postati to become, turn, get #923
- Slovak stať to become #442
- Slovenian postati to become #578
- Spanish convirtió to turn into, to cause to become #2,372
- Swedish blir to become #97
- Tagalog maging to become #109
- Tamil முறை to become stiff, hard #127
- Turkish olduğunu to become, come to exist, come into being #41
- Ukrainian стати to become #530
- Vietnamese đổi to change become something different #322
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.